ITIF, Niskanen Center Urge Congress to Bring Small Business Administration into the Twenty-First Century

July 10, 2019

WASHINGTON—As Congress considers the first reauthorization of the Small Business Act since 2000, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and the Niskanen Center organized a coalition letter in support of reforms that will bring the Small Business Administration (SBA) into the twenty-first century.

“It’s time small business policy focuses more on supporting high-growth technology firms and manufacturing firms, as these are critical to U.S. growth and competitiveness,” said ITIF President Rob Atkinson. “The proposed Senate reauthorization of the Small Business Act would move the Small Business Administration significantly in that direction.”

“The last two decades have seen a disturbing decline in the formation of young, high-growth firms," notes Samuel Hammond, Director of Poverty Welfare Policy for the Niskanen Center. “The disappearance of small businesses that scale quickly does not bode well for the health and dynamism of the American economy. Fortunately, the bipartisan reauthorization before the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship contains a number of important reforms designed to reverse this trend, in addition to a suite of long-over modernizations.”

Co-signers of the letter include: Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; John W. Lettieri, Co-founder and President of the Economic Innovation Group; John Dearie, Founder and President of the Center for American Entrepreneurship; Carrie Hines, President & CEO of the American Small Manufacturers Coalition; Sridhar Kota, Executive Director of MForesight: Alliance for Manufacturing Foresight; Oren Cass, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute; Mark Muro, Senior Fellow and Policy Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution; Andrew Stettner, Senior Fellow at the The Century Foundation; and David Adler, Co-editor of “The Prosperity Puzzle: Restoring Economic Dynamism” for XA Investments.

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The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is an independent, nonpartisan research and educational institute focusing on the intersection of technological innovation and public policy. Recognized as the world’s leading science and technology think tank, ITIF’s mission is to formulate and promote policy solutions that accelerate innovation and boost productivity to spur growth, opportunity, and progress.